The politician attacked me on Twitter. Now what?

The elected official looks at the company, makes an assessment, and shares his thoughts with the world via Twitter.

But what if it’s not President-elect Donald Trump doing the tweeting? And what if the target is not Boeing or General Motors. What if, instead, it’s a mayor or a city council member — and the target is you?

“Trump has established the bully pulpit of the 21st century, which is Twitter and social media," said Scott Farrell, president of global corporate communications for Chicago-based public relations firm Golin. "I think as people see the success he’s having in jawboning companies like Ford, Boeing and Toyota, you’re going to see other people in the political realm, regardless of size, begin to borrow from his playbook. If it works for Trump against Ford, why wouldn’t it work for a mayor or a county commissioner against a smaller company?”

The Business Journals reached out to communication experts for their thoughts on how companies can prepare themselves in this potential new era of political pressure and influence. Their counsel begins with a consideration of resources.

The companies that have drawn Trump's attention to date have been huge corporations with massive influence both in the United States and around the world. The president-elect might not take aim at a company whose operations are more limited in scale, but elected officials closer to that company's home base could cast a public eye on the business. Should that happen, Farrell said the first step in response matters as much for timing as content.

“The one thing that doesn’t change, regardless of whether it’s a federal, international or local situation, is speed," he said. "Speed is a constant regardless of the players in the game. Farrell added that no matter the substance of your response, “You need to be prepared and equipped to take [the conversation] offline in a very fast and expedient way, because the clock is ticking. Once that first tweet is posted, others are going to begin commenting on it, and before you know it, you could be fighting a wave of Twitter challenges rather than just one or a few.”

Krista Neher, CEO of Bootcampdigital.com, a Cincinnati digital marketing training firm, echoed some of Farrell’s comments, but she also told The Business Journals that responding to a powerful person on social media shouldn’t be all that different from responding to someone with a much smaller following.

“I think businesses should treat everyone online as a celebrity, in the sense that responding to an average person with 50 Twitter followers is just as public as responding to a mayor," she said. "If you look at a lot of the responses that end up generating headlines, it’s usually not a response to a celebrity. Where they often get in trouble is in their everyday responses.”

When it comes to specifics about how companies should respond, Neher advised that approaches ought to differ depending on whether the criticism is true or not. She noted that in earlier days of social media, businesses tended to reflexively apologize for everything in an attempt to quell whatever point of contention may have been expressed. Not so anymore.

“If what’s being said about you isn’t correct, standing up for yourself will probably get you more attention, in some ways, than just apologizing and trying to get out of the spotlight,” Neher said. “If you look at when Donald Trump was tweeting about Ford removing jobs, Ford came back really strongly and said, ‘This is not what is happening. Here’s the situation.’ They were very, very clear in defending themselves, and I think that helped them.”

If, however, the criticism about your business is accurate, Neher said you might take the tack of explaining to the public why you think you made the best decision. Or, if the situation warrants, you might admit making a mistake. Either way, she said, “If you look at what works, it’s taking a firm stance and being clear and consistent. What doesn’t work is lying, trying to be vague in your response, or trying to placate everyone.”